: Steel High's Malia Tate-DeFreitas shoots around Bishop Guilfoyle's Kate Meck during the Rollers 73-60 win in their PIAA A Girls State Championship game at the Bryce Jordan Center . 03/26/2011 SEAN SIMMERS, THE PATRIOT-NEWS

Steel High senior Janelle Hill (facing camera) gets a hug from Taylor Harris-Slade after the Rollers 73-60 win over Bishop Guilfoyle in their PIAA A Girls State Championship game at the Bryce Jordan Center . 03/26/2011 SEAN SIMMERS, THE PATRIOT-NEWS

Steel High's Amber Anderson shoots over Bishop Guilfoyle's defenders during the Rollers 73-60 win in their PIAA A Girls State Championship game at the Bryce Jordan Center . 03/26/2011 SEAN SIMMERS, THE PATRIOT-NEWS

There was an odd moment when the final horn sounded at Bryce Jordan Center Saturday afternoon to signal the end of the PIAA Class A girls' basketball championship game.

Steel-High had just soundly defeated two-time defending champion Bishop Guilfoyle 73-60, so you could excuse Jeff Chisholm's club for going a little crazy.

But the Rollers really didn't celebrate in typical state championship fashion.

Normally there's a rush to the center of the court, lots of screaming, hugging and crying.

A few Steel-High players shed tears and some gave each other hugs. But in terms of gold medal celebrations, this was very subdued.

Perhaps it has something to do with the Rollers continuing to follow the cue of their floor general — sophomore Malia Tate-DeFreitas.

The 5-4 point guard is painfully shy by nature, hates talking about her accomplishments on the floor and rarely shows emotion.

So it sort of makes sense when the Rollers finally reached the summit as a team, their overt celebration was so brief if you blinked you might have missed it.

Other than a 20-second meeting in the middle of the court, followed by some good-hearted ribbing of a local sportswriter who picked them to lose by five, the Rollers simply lined up for the postgame handshake and that was it.

Of course they were happy, but jumping up and down, screaming and yelling and letting off steam isn't Tate-DeFreitas' style. And this Rollers team had adopted her personality.

That's why Steel-High is the 2011 PIAA Class A champion.

As a group they followed the lead of their extremely talented best player.

"I told the kids all season Malia is going to make your game better. All you have to do is go out there and play basketball. Malia will find you, all you have to do is put it in the basket," Chisholm said. "She's very unselfish. She's probably the most unselfish player I've ever coached. All you have to do is run the floor with her, and she'll get you the ball."

Each member of this diverse group of Rollers settled into a role and became better basketball players over the course of the season. Tate-DeFreitas was always the one constant for this team.

At times she carried Steel-High to victory when one or two pieces of the puzzle was missing.

But in the state championship game it all came together in full bloom.

Shooting, rebounding, tempo and taking care of the basketball. It was all there for everyone to see.

And one day after getting that gold medal draped around her neck, Tate-DeFreitas had a big smile on her face recalling what took place Saturday afternoon.

"I had a lot of fun because I really love getting the rest of my teammates involved in the game. I really thought Jess [Williams] stepped up. And so did Jazmine [Blanding]. They really came through," said Tate-DeFreitas, who averaged 24 points, six rebounds and five assists a game this season.

"I didn't think my team had it in them until yesterday. I really like to give them those good passes so they can hit the easy bucket. I'm a sharer and passer at heart. Coach Chisholm and my dad [assistant coach Malik DeFreitas] push me to score."

Conventional wisdom said if the Rollers were going to pull of the upset of Bishop Guilfoyle, a team that beat Steel-High by 10 points in the first game of the season, then Tate-DeFreitas was going to have to put up some silly numbers.

After all, she accounted for 57 percent of their offense between buckets and assists.

Early on in the state final, as the rest of the Rollers shook off those big-game nerves, Tate-DeFreitas was the Rollers' offense. She scored Steel-High initial 10 points.

Then it happened.

Four other players, Williams, Blanding, Janelle Hill and Cinnamon Brown, found a groove. And everything clicked. Tate-DeFreitas simply became part of the perfect storm instead of being the one that created the storm.

"Everybody played their best, and I didn't have to score as much. I really enjoyed that," said Tate-DeFreitas, who finished the championship game with 19 points, eight assists, seven board and five steals. "I told them before the game just play your very best and we'll celebrate at home later. And that's what they did."

When Tate-DeFreitas made a free throw at the 2:38 mark of the first quarter, it pulled the Rollers into a 10-10 deadlock with the Marauders.

Amazingly, the sophomore didn't register a single point the next 16 minutes — half the game!

That's never happened. For if it had, you figure the Rollers would be in deep trouble.

Not on this day, though.

By the time Tate-DeFreitas scored again, a free-throw at 2:38 of the third quarter, the Rollers were comfortably ahead 46-33.

Sixteen minutes and 35 straight points scored by the Rollers without a single point by Tate-DeFreitas. Who ever saw that coming?

"I never noticed because we were scoring. I never paid attention to it. I thought she was scoring, too," Chisholm said. "I never thought that would happen. Let alone her not scoring and us putting up points like crazy on the board."

It might have looked fairly easy on Saturday, but this was a long and difficult grind for the Rollers. Two regulars contributors were lost by midseason.

Williams did return in the PIAA semifinal and made a huge splash in the final after breaking her ankle in early January.

But for the 16 leading up to the state final Steel-High had go through a mild makeover.

Hill and Brown had to become bigger threats offensively. Amber Anderson was now a starter. The deep bench wasn't as deep anymore. Slowly the changes took hold as individual pieces, then played out as one for 32 magical minutes.

"I did a video on Pennlive earlier this year and my New Year's resolution was to win states. So I felt some pressure on me after that," Tate-DeFreitas said. "We were so ready for this game. I could feel it. Being such a small town, we had letters from the elementary school and our high school.

"And it really motivated us."

Plus, Tate-DeFreitas said with a full smile on her face "I don't like losing."